Holiday helpers spread Christmas cheer

Among those spreading Christmas cheer for people in need will be, from left, Dan Poeta, owner of Horizon Heating and Air Conditioning; Billy Corn, owner of Billy's Wrecker and Battery Service; and
Andy Unguris, community outreach coordinator at the Henderson County Animal Shelter.

Patrick Sullivan / Times-News

By NANCY TANKERTimes-News Staff Writer

Published: Wednesday, December 25, 2013 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, December 24, 2013 at 11:08 a.m.

The jolly bearded man in the red suit isn't the only one who works on Christmas. Many local volunteers and business owners work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, too, and still manage to keep their jolly wits about them.

Tim Garren, chief of Valley Hill Fire and Rescue, will be working a 24-hour shift this Christmas at the Willow Road main station headquarters, but that's OK with him.

"Christmas morning, I may very well get up and have a structure fire, and I'll go because that's my job and I want to help people. Just like all the other firefighters," he said. "We do it because we love helping people. It's not just firefighters — it's the sheriff's department, police, EMS, fire, all of the emergency services — they are all in the same boat. We can't schedule Christmas Day as if we're not going to go on all call that day. … The citizens in Henderson County, no matter whatever agency that protects them or whoever they need help from, can expect those services on Christmas. We will be there any day, every day."

Garren and his wife, Lori, have two older sons — Trace, 20, and Brandon, 15 — but "back when they were younger, they didn't understand" why their dad had to work some Christmases. Garren can't remember offhand what year it was when he last worked on Christmas, but he does remember that he "wanted to get up and enjoy Santa Claus before I had to get up go to work, and sometimes it's hard to leave the family, but as firefighters, that's our job. All firefighters' wives and girlfriends know that that's our job and we can't choose when that alarm comes in and someone needs our help." He added, "A special thanks has to go out to our wives and girlfriends for them understanding and supporting what we do."

The types of fires or other emergency situations he and his fellow firefighters may encounter on Christmas varies from year to year, Garren said. "It could be a weather dependent event, or an accidental fire or a cooking fire or an electrical fire — Christmas Day is no different than any other day. People are busy on Christmas and are running from house to house and seeing other family members, and things get left on or candles remain lighted and things happen."

His department also handles rescue calls. "Wrecks, medical issues — it's a special day, but to us in our field of work, it's just another day."

Still, on Christmas he tries to make the 24-hour shift schedule as palatable to his crew as possible. "We make a valiant effort to make sure the guys with small kids can be home that morning to spend time with their kids," he said. "These guys are sacrificing time away from their family, and we want to give them as much time as possible if they have young kids. They are our family, too."

Helping the stranded

A Christmas Day fire can be devastating for a family, but a car breakdown can bring the holiday to a screeching halt, too. Tow truck driver Billy Corn knows that all too well.

The owner of Billy's Wrecker and Battery Service in Hendersonville, Corn has been on-call for the past 14 Christmases.

"We are actually expecting an increase of calls this Christmas simply because of the increase we had for Thanksgiving, which is a good indicator," he said. "We run about 10-15 calls on holidays, but this Thanksgiving, we had about 20-25 calls. We'll have five to seven guys on call from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Three to four guys will be on call Christmas Eve and through the night into Christmas Day."

Corn said he expects "a lot of routine calls — lockouts and tire changes and jump starts. People are travelling and they might not be used to driving on the mountain roads and you might get a wreck where people need help, but other than that it's just routine."

His wife of 21 years, Charman, is understanding when he has to go on call on holidays, but he also has a son, Payton, 4, and a 22-month-old daughter, Ashton.

"It is hard to take away from family time — it is difficult — but I knew that going into the business about three and a half years ago and that we would work around it," Corn said. "I am used to being the guy who's on call."

As for his employees, he said, "Of course everybody wants to have time with their families, but whenever I hire someone, I make it clear that if the holiday falls during the week, you are on call."

Caring for animals

This is the third Christmas that Andy Unguris, community outreach coordinator at the Henderson County Animal Shelter, will be tending to the animals on Christmas Day.

"It's usually pretty quiet," he said. "Adoptions slow down during the colder months, but we do get spurts when animals find homes. The sad part is that we get a little surge of people turning in animals for various reasons, including not wanting to deal with them during the holidays."

He said his wife of more than 16 years, Brookes, along with his children, Annabelle, 4, and Henry, 1, "Absolutely understand that someone needs to care and love the animals for the holiday. Fortunately I only have to clean and care for the animals, which takes about a half day, so I don't have to be away from them too long."

He will work 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., which "limits our traveling, so family usually has to come and see us."

Unguris said that on Christmas he usually gives the animals "an extra treat or two, and I do spend a little more time playing and talking with them. It's nice when just the animals are there. It gives you time to think and really comprehend the situation each animal is in."

The best part of spending time with the animals is that they give "unconditional love," he said. "Some of these animals come from horrendous situations and get dropped off for the dumbest reasons, and they still love you. They don't hide anything. Sometimes they are sad, sometimes happy, but you always know what you get."

Sometimes during the holidays, there will be an uptick in donations and people who come to visit the animals just to pet them and play with them, he said. People who donate "litter, treats and blankets help out a bunch. And we are always looking for volunteers."

Providing warmth

Across town, Dan Poeta, owner of Horizon Heating and Air Conditioning in Hendersonville, will also work Christmas. His company is on-call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

"Things break every day of the year," he said, holidays or not. "I don't recall who ran calls this past Thanksgiving, but I know we had a few on Thanksgiving Day."

He has two children — a daughter, Gabrielle, 14, and a son, Brendan, 10.

"Obviously, we would rather not have to go out on a call on a holiday," Poeta said, "but we're not going to begrudge someone if something breaks on a holiday. They have no control over it, and it's not their fault."

He does give contract customers priority on calls, because they have an ongoing maintenance contract with Horizon, but he also responds to calls from new customers any day of the year.

Three years ago, he remembers the harsh winter of 2010, when he got a call on Christmas morning because a local family woke up with no heat, putting their cozy Christmas in peril.

"We found a relay in the crawl space that was a belly crosser — about 35 feet to crawl to get to it," Poeta recalled. "We found the replacement part — it just happened to be the right part that we had on hand."

He felt very fortunate to find the part he needed, then found out "the family didn't have any funds" to pay the bill. That's when he felt fortunate that he could help out a family in need on Christmas Day.

"We just told them Merry Christmas and went about our day, and everybody felt the better for it. When you can restore their heat on Christmas and they are very grateful, it feels really good when you finish."

<p>The jolly bearded man in the red suit isn't the only one who works on Christmas. Many local volunteers and business owners work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, too, and still manage to keep their jolly wits about them.</p><p>Tim Garren, chief of Valley Hill Fire and Rescue, will be working a 24-hour shift this Christmas at the Willow Road main station headquarters, but that's OK with him. </p><p>"Christmas morning, I may very well get up and have a structure fire, and I'll go because that's my job and I want to help people. Just like all the other firefighters," he said. "We do it because we love helping people. It's not just firefighters — it's the sheriff's department, police, EMS, fire, all of the emergency services — they are all in the same boat. We can't schedule Christmas Day as if we're not going to go on all call that day. … The citizens in Henderson County, no matter whatever agency that protects them or whoever they need help from, can expect those services on Christmas. We will be there any day, every day."</p><p>Garren and his wife, Lori, have two older sons — Trace, 20, and Brandon, 15 — but "back when they were younger, they didn't understand" why their dad had to work some Christmases. Garren can't remember offhand what year it was when he last worked on Christmas, but he does remember that he "wanted to get up and enjoy Santa Claus before I had to get up go to work, and sometimes it's hard to leave the family, but as firefighters, that's our job. All firefighters' wives and girlfriends know that that's our job and we can't choose when that alarm comes in and someone needs our help." He added, "A special thanks has to go out to our wives and girlfriends for them understanding and supporting what we do."</p><p>The types of fires or other emergency situations he and his fellow firefighters may encounter on Christmas varies from year to year, Garren said. "It could be a weather dependent event, or an accidental fire or a cooking fire or an electrical fire — Christmas Day is no different than any other day. People are busy on Christmas and are running from house to house and seeing other family members, and things get left on or candles remain lighted and things happen." </p><p>His department also handles rescue calls. "Wrecks, medical issues — it's a special day, but to us in our field of work, it's just another day."</p><p>Still, on Christmas he tries to make the 24-hour shift schedule as palatable to his crew as possible. "We make a valiant effort to make sure the guys with small kids can be home that morning to spend time with their kids," he said. "These guys are sacrificing time away from their family, and we want to give them as much time as possible if they have young kids. They are our family, too."</p><h3>Helping the stranded</h3>
<p>A Christmas Day fire can be devastating for a family, but a car breakdown can bring the holiday to a screeching halt, too. Tow truck driver Billy Corn knows that all too well. </p><p>The owner of Billy's Wrecker and Battery Service in Hendersonville, Corn has been on-call for the past 14 Christmases. </p><p>"We are actually expecting an increase of calls this Christmas simply because of the increase we had for Thanksgiving, which is a good indicator," he said. "We run about 10-15 calls on holidays, but this Thanksgiving, we had about 20-25 calls. We'll have five to seven guys on call from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Three to four guys will be on call Christmas Eve and through the night into Christmas Day." </p><p>Corn said he expects "a lot of routine calls — lockouts and tire changes and jump starts. People are travelling and they might not be used to driving on the mountain roads and you might get a wreck where people need help, but other than that it's just routine."</p><p>His wife of 21 years, Charman, is understanding when he has to go on call on holidays, but he also has a son, Payton, 4, and a 22-month-old daughter, Ashton. </p><p>"It is hard to take away from family time — it is difficult — but I knew that going into the business about three and a half years ago and that we would work around it," Corn said. "I am used to being the guy who's on call."</p><p>As for his employees, he said, "Of course everybody wants to have time with their families, but whenever I hire someone, I make it clear that if the holiday falls during the week, you are on call."</p><h3>Caring for animals</h3>
<p>This is the third Christmas that Andy Unguris, community outreach coordinator at the Henderson County Animal Shelter, will be tending to the animals on Christmas Day. </p><p>"It's usually pretty quiet," he said. "Adoptions slow down during the colder months, but we do get spurts when animals find homes. The sad part is that we get a little surge of people turning in animals for various reasons, including not wanting to deal with them during the holidays."</p><p>He said his wife of more than 16 years, Brookes, along with his children, Annabelle, 4, and Henry, 1, "Absolutely understand that someone needs to care and love the animals for the holiday. Fortunately I only have to clean and care for the animals, which takes about a half day, so I don't have to be away from them too long." </p><p>He will work 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., which "limits our traveling, so family usually has to come and see us."</p><p>Unguris said that on Christmas he usually gives the animals "an extra treat or two, and I do spend a little more time playing and talking with them. It's nice when just the animals are there. It gives you time to think and really comprehend the situation each animal is in."</p><p>The best part of spending time with the animals is that they give "unconditional love," he said. "Some of these animals come from horrendous situations and get dropped off for the dumbest reasons, and they still love you. They don't hide anything. Sometimes they are sad, sometimes happy, but you always know what you get."</p><p>Sometimes during the holidays, there will be an uptick in donations and people who come to visit the animals just to pet them and play with them, he said. People who donate "litter, treats and blankets help out a bunch. And we are always looking for volunteers."</p><h3>Providing warmth</h3>
<p>Across town, Dan Poeta, owner of Horizon Heating and Air Conditioning in Hendersonville, will also work Christmas. His company is on-call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. </p><p>"Things break every day of the year," he said, holidays or not. "I don't recall who ran calls this past Thanksgiving, but I know we had a few on Thanksgiving Day."</p><p>He has two children — a daughter, Gabrielle, 14, and a son, Brendan, 10. </p><p>"Obviously, we would rather not have to go out on a call on a holiday," Poeta said, "but we're not going to begrudge someone if something breaks on a holiday. They have no control over it, and it's not their fault."</p><p>He does give contract customers priority on calls, because they have an ongoing maintenance contract with Horizon, but he also responds to calls from new customers any day of the year. </p><p>Three years ago, he remembers the harsh winter of 2010, when he got a call on Christmas morning because a local family woke up with no heat, putting their cozy Christmas in peril. </p><p>"We found a relay in the crawl space that was a belly crosser — about 35 feet to crawl to get to it," Poeta recalled. "We found the replacement part — it just happened to be the right part that we had on hand." </p><p>He felt very fortunate to find the part he needed, then found out "the family didn't have any funds" to pay the bill. That's when he felt fortunate that he could help out a family in need on Christmas Day. </p><p>"We just told them Merry Christmas and went about our day, and everybody felt the better for it. When you can restore their heat on Christmas and they are very grateful, it feels really good when you finish."</p><p><i>Reach Tanker at 828-694-7871 or nancy.tanker@blueridgenow.com.</p>